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Post by bjd on Mar 8, 2022 7:35:12 GMT
Thanks, Huckle. Timothy Snyder is indeed a good historian of the area.
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Post by bjd on Mar 8, 2022 9:34:13 GMT
Our city hall lit up in the colours of Ukraine:
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Post by kerouac2 on Mar 8, 2022 10:21:40 GMT
Ukraine has announced that the "International Legion" already has 20,000 volunteers. While this is probably hyperbole, the other day 14 French legionnaires of Ukrainian origin were intercepted on their way to Poland to join the combat. They will face disciplinary action but hopefully not a full court martial.
Now I am wondering how many Russians are in the French foreign legion. Of course the fact that they left Russia to join another army speaks in their favour.
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Post by questa on Mar 8, 2022 11:19:52 GMT
Tonight on the news we saw HM Queen having important discussions with the French President. On a side table was vase of ordinary garden flowers...bright blue and yellow, mixed together.
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 8, 2022 15:53:34 GMT
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Post by kerouac2 on Mar 9, 2022 15:15:48 GMT
Today on the news they showed that some of the children of refugees from Ukraine have already started school again in France. In the urban schools, there are French children who speak Ukrainian or Russian who can help them.
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Post by questa on Mar 10, 2022 6:05:42 GMT
So much for "pin point accuracy" of Russian weapons. They bombed to destruction a major Maternity Hospital. Many mothers and newborns are still trapped under the rubble. Bastards!
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Post by kerouac2 on Mar 10, 2022 15:38:23 GMT
The Russian spokesperson said that it was the usual Ukrainian tactic of hiding soldiers in medical facilities and that it is all fake news.
Maybe it's the biggest fake since Stanley Kubrick filmed the moon landing in 1969.
Or not.
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Post by mickthecactus on Mar 10, 2022 21:20:56 GMT
I doubt that Ukraine are whiter than white throughout this.
There was a phrase somewhere along the lines that the first victim of war is truth.
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Post by questa on Mar 10, 2022 21:36:47 GMT
There was a phrase somewhere along the lines that the first victim of war is truth. and ain't THAT the truth!
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Post by kerouac2 on Mar 11, 2022 15:12:41 GMT
The fact that Putin has called for Syrian mercenary volunteers to come and fight in Ukraine is a really remarkable admission of weakness.
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Post by casimira on Mar 11, 2022 15:20:13 GMT
Wow, I had not heard that news. Indeed, a sign of desperation and weakness. He's scrambling for all the troops he can muster up.
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 11, 2022 15:37:40 GMT
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Post by kerouac2 on Mar 11, 2022 16:46:30 GMT
Surely I am not the only person who thinks "mercenary volunteers" is an oxymoron, right? You are partially correct, but as long as they are not strong armed into coming, they are still volunteers. The money will be a big factor, and yet I am not convinced that a lot of Syrian mercenaries will be automatically attracted to the salaries and conditions offered, especially if they have been watching the news about the problems of the Russian troops. Meanwhile, I went to take a quick glimpse of the Paris Ukrainian refugee centre, which is in my neighbourhood. I only took a few photos because it seemed inappropriate to gawk. I read that at the moment about 300-400 are arriving in Paris every day (plenty of others in other parts of France, of course). Arriving buses were queued up after how long on the road? 48 hours most likely. I was glad to be wearing a mask to hide my emotions because seeing these exhausted people who have lost everything is pretty unbearable.
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Post by bjd on Mar 11, 2022 17:35:58 GMT
I stopped at the Bayonne place for donations yesterday but there was a sign saying they had temporarily suspended accepting donations. And already for a few days they have stopped taking clothes. Didn't see any buses or people though.
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Post by onlyMark on Mar 11, 2022 17:49:56 GMT
The UK response has been appalling. No need for it other than prevarication. They need their backsides kicking.
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Post by mossie on Mar 12, 2022 8:09:12 GMT
Seeing all the fuss here about Abramovich would it not be a good idea to requisition his posh London properties, and all the others in Londongrad belonging to similar oligarchs hiding their dirty money away from their own people, and use them to house Ukrainian refugees. All the venal lawyers who support these people should have their licences cancelled and their property impounded
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Post by kerouac2 on Mar 12, 2022 18:45:44 GMT
It looks like the noose is getting tighter in Ukraine, even though I still have confidence in the Ukrainians.
And the US might loosen the cord on Venezuelan oil? Ah, the ebb and flow of politics in the real world!
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Post by kerouac2 on Mar 12, 2022 19:07:57 GMT
The Ukrainian parliament has produced a fake video to help Western Europeans imagine how they would feel if they were attacked.
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Post by lugg on Mar 13, 2022 17:13:41 GMT
Not sure if this has already been mentioned ... I was reading today about the Holodomor which I had completely forgotten about, although I seem to think I touched on it during my A level history studies. Different times, different people ; same goal.
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Post by lugg on Mar 13, 2022 17:17:49 GMT
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Post by kerouac2 on Mar 13, 2022 17:19:38 GMT
I had to look that up since I had never heard of it. Horrible.
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Post by kerouac2 on Mar 13, 2022 17:37:12 GMT
The UK government seems as if it is finally starting/ trying to get its act together I know that when Brexit happened, the British had no idea that this Ukraine situation would ever happen, but I have read that it has been difficult to justify helping Europeans not even in the EU when one of the reasons for Brexit was to get rid of "needy" Europeans on British soil. So it's difficult not to appear a bit hypocritical and contradictory to suddenly open their arms to Ukrainians. As long as they get over it, that's fine with me, even if the response is not perfect. But it is also a shame that the UK is not part of the EU response to the situation, and nobody is even hearing their voice in the matter since they are small and alone, even if they are taking the same decisions. And of course the whole Londongrad reputation is not helping them.
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Post by kerouac2 on Mar 13, 2022 17:47:18 GMT
Perhaps it is time to remember another Russian leader.
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Post by Kimby on Mar 13, 2022 21:39:37 GMT
Pasting in the whole article because I don’t think our local paper’s links can be opened by Europeans. Here’s the link if you want to test it and get back to me. apnews.com/bd0aa404e1b64dbdc464b6660fd280afAn American filmmaker documenting the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine was killed when Russian troops opened fire on his vehicle. “ Brent Renaud, an acclaimed filmmaker who traveled to some of the darkest and most dangerous corners of the world for documentaries that transported audiences to little-known places of suffering, died Sunday after Russian forces opened fire on his vehicle in Ukraine. The 50-year-old Little Rock, Arkansas, native was gathering material for a report about refugees when his vehicle was hit at a checkpoint in Irpin, just outside the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. Ukraine's Interior Ministry said the area has sustained intense shelling by Russian forces in recent days. Renaud was one of the most respected independent producers of his era, said Christof Putzel, a filmmaker and close friend who had received a text from Renaud just three days before his death. Renaud and Putzel won a 2013 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University journalism award for "Arming the Mexican Cartels," a documentary on how guns trafficked from the United States fueled rampant drug gang violence. “This guy was the absolute best,” Putzel told The Associated Press via phone from New York City. ”He was just the absolute best war journalist that I know. This is a guy who literally went to every conflict zone.” The details of Renaud's death were not made immediately clear by Ukrainian authorities, but American journalist Juan Arredondo said the two were traveling in a vehicle toward the Irpin checkpoint when they were both shot. Arredondo, speaking from a hospital in Kyiv, told Italian journalist Annalisa Camilli that Renaud was hit in the neck. Camilli told the AP that Arredondo himself had been hit in the lower back. “We crossed the first bridge in Irpin, we were going to film other refugees leaving, and we got into a car, somebody offered to take us to the other bridge, we crossed the checkpoint, and they started shooting at us," Arredondo told Camilli in a video interview shared with the AP. A statement from Kyiv regional police said that Russian troops opened fire on the car. Hours after the shooting of Renaud, Irpin mayor Oleksandr Markushyn said journalists would be denied entry to the city. “In this way, we want to save the lives of both them and our defenders,” Markushyn said. The U.S. State Department said it would not comment on Renaud's death out of respect for his family members but that consular assistance was being offered to them. The U.S. State Department condemned attacks on news professionals and others documenting the conflict. “We are horrified that journalists and filmmakers—noncombatants—have been killed and injured in Ukraine by Kremlin forces," the department said via Twitter. "This is yet another gruesome example of the Kremlin’s indiscriminate actions.” “
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Post by lagatta on Mar 14, 2022 15:49:26 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 14, 2022 17:01:24 GMT
Out of curiosity, why is this thread in "Port & Starboard"? Are we expecting some apologists for Russia?
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Post by kerouac2 on Mar 14, 2022 17:20:11 GMT
There are two sides to every war, in case you didn't know.
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Post by bjd on Mar 14, 2022 19:04:08 GMT
Lagatta -- I agree with you. Putin's ex-wife and her new oligarch husband have a huge house in Anglet, right next door to Biarritz. It has been standing empty for months now but has been tagged and Ukrainian flags have been painted on the fence and gate. This evening at the gym, we were doing exercises with weights on our wrists. The last one was holding our hands under our armpits, then shooting our fists out as though we were punching. Since we were all getting tired, the instructor said, "Putin! Imagine he is standing in front of you! Harder!"
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Post by kerouac2 on Mar 14, 2022 19:15:20 GMT
Out of curiosity, why is this thread in "Port & Starboard"? Are we expecting some apologists for Russia? Mick made a comment the other day of the kind you do not tolerate. Do you want to ban him? I don't.
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